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For Microsoft Outlook users unfamiliar with Xobni, pay attention. The venture-backed company’s first piece of software, not even two years old, is a powerful advancement for e-mail organization, Outlook style. Wednesday, the new version of the tool is available, Xobni1.8 which provides additional power. In addition, the previously free plugin is offering an advanced version, Xobni Plus, which costs $29.95.

Xobni, which is “Inbox” spelled backwards, is still ultimately a free program. The free version, obviously, is a lightweight version of the tricked-out version of Xobni, which gives high-level e-mail users complete control over their inbox. As a VC-backed organization, Xobni needed something to build revenue. Jeff Bonforte, CEO of the startup explains that a paid service helps people “feel better that money is coming in because they know that you’ll be there tomorrow to support them.” What he may not realize is that money coming in to his company means money coming out of consumer’s pockets-an experience that trumps warm and fuzzy feelings of support. However, Xobni Plus is a handy tool that may be worth the $30.

Xobni is a plugin that helps organize, sort, and deal with the e-mail flood that swamps people every day. It speeds up and simplifies the process. For example, e-mail searching, a notoriously painstaking process for Outlook users, is a lighting-fast process in Xobni. It features an as-you-type search feature, bringing up the probable target before you’re even finished completing the search. Xobni also intelligently sorts contacts and e-mails, enabling you to perform searches for either contacts or e-mails simultaneously with one intuitive search process. It integrates all of a person’s contact info from any interaction with them, be it Skype or Gmail or LinkedIn. A threaded conversation interface, similar to Gmail helps keep e-mail conversations in order. The program even claims to reveal, “hidden associations within your e-mail,” uncovering a maze of intriguing networks you may never have been aware of.

The benefits of Xobni Plus are found in “advanced search,” with more options, Boolean searches, phrase searches and more. This feature is sure to satisfy the person who never organizes his e-mail inbox. The contact search feature even gets a boost. Remember a contact’s company, and not his name? Or maybe you don’t even remember his company-just a bit about your interaction with him or her. You don’t even know the first name? No problem. Xobni Rank gives you a list of options based on the few words that come wondering out from your keyboard in your mind-wandering attempt to recall the name. Even users frustrated with Outlook’s mind-numbing filter setup can relax with the intuitive ease of Xobni’s filter system.

All in all, Xobni is a great tool. And $30 is not too much to ask for all the bells and whistles. After all the time you spend on e-mail